. The New Forest . grassy tracks. Herewe espied numbers of graceful, tall butterflyorchises, hiding under the bracken fronds, buttheir greenish-white spikes easily to be seen, if onestooped down amongst tlie fern; and how fairy-like a \ ision it is to kneel low down ainid thefern, rig] it under it, and to look along the tall,slender, gray-green stems, far away into thedistance, and to see the carpet of yellow and pinkvetches, the tall creamy-white butterfly orchis,sweet of scent, the pink heather, the yellow cinque-foil, and many other shy blossoms that love to hideunder the shade of the brack
. The New Forest . grassy tracks. Herewe espied numbers of graceful, tall butterflyorchises, hiding under the bracken fronds, buttheir greenish-white spikes easily to be seen, if onestooped down amongst tlie fern; and how fairy-like a \ ision it is to kneel low down ainid thefern, rig] it under it, and to look along the tall,slender, gray-green stems, far away into thedistance, and to see the carpet of yellow and pinkvetches, the tall creamy-white butterfly orchis,sweet of scent, the pink heather, the yellow cinque-foil, and many other shy blossoms that love to hideunder the shade of the bracken ! Look down uponit from above, and nothing of them is to be seen,only the broad, meeting dark-green leaves. The sun gleamed and glinted on the broadbracken fronds, making them now a clear green,like emeralds, now gray or white where theyreflected the sky. Tennyson has recorded thiseffect of bracken in the sunlight, as will be seenfrom a short extract out of *Pelleas and Ettare. FOXGLOVES IN THE JUNE 57 * Near him a mound of even-sloping side,Whereon a hundred stately beeches grew,And here and there great hollies under them ;But for a mile all round was open space And fern and heath ; Through that green-glooming twilight of the groveIt seemed to Pelleas that the fern withoutBurnt as a living fire of emeralds,So that his eyes were dazzled looking at it/ The scent of the aromatic, pale orchis was in theair, a woodpecker flitted fiom one low thorn-bushto another, butterflies—sulphur, tortoiseshell, andwhite—spread out their wings mde upon the warmfern—everything was basking in the fresh, match-less June sunshine, and this was a delectable spotto enjoy it in. Have we not all an ideal place ofthis sort in our minds, that we long to return toeach year as the season comes round, sure thatonly there can June be seen in its full beauty, andthe sunshine, the hawthorn flower, the orchis, andfern, and foxglo^-es, ever and always are to befound and delighted in the
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1900, bookdecade1900, bookidnewforest00r, bookyear1904
